Redeeming Film

It was a rainy Sunday in NYC but we were fortunate to experience two different ministry’s with a similar target.

Redeemer Presbyterian

Most tourists to New York City will end up in Time Square. Like moths to a lamp, the multi-coloured lights are tourist delights, so they cram into the pedestrian spaces to gaze at the plethora of screens shouting visual invitations their way. Redeemer Presbyterian (West) is only a few blocks away but it’s a visual contrast to Time Square. We visited the 9:30am service and walked into an auditorium that was simple, elegant and minimalist. Whilst some churches use the Time Square approach in their worship gatherings and have flashy visuals – Redeemer has no data projection and uses a detailed bulletin instead. It looked like this from the back row of the lower tier:

String instruments played a couple of classical pieces and then joined the piano and one singer for the hymns which were printed in the bulletin. The fundraising project was mentioned, but it was emphasised that they cared more about increasing the people involved (movement) and cared less about the amount of money (campaign).

Founding Pastor, Tim Keller, then walks to the mic and blows us away with his deep insights into the very well know passage of 1 Cor 13. This guy isn’t dynamic or entertaining, and he hardly used stories or humour. But he’s an incredible teacher, the gospel was preached and I was prolifically writing notes! Is he the reason why this church attracts so many young professionals? Maybe, but my team agreed that the people weren’t very friendly, so other possible factors include the venue, the modern/professional resources, the flow of the services and the larger emphasis of Redeemer on church planting in NYC and across the world.

I guess it goes to show that you don’t need ‘whiz bang’ programs to attract young professionals in secular cities – though they do have a Jazz service at 11:30am 😉

Emily Erhart – Film Maker

We headed across town to Brooklyn and found the Pratt Institute film school and met Christian film maker Emily Erhart. She showed us 3 video clips of her work and explained the first piece she’d created got hammered by the (90%) atheist lecturers and other students. Instead of leaving the school discouraged, she created the film ‘days of dust‘ and found that because it moved people and didn’t show any common Christian symbols, people loved it (though they had different interpretations of what was going on). It received praise, got featured and now she’s the content creator for 17 magazine. The cool thing is this: unlike what happens to so many other Christian kids in a secular Uni, she was the one who influenced them, not the other way around!

When Emily was asked about what connects with secular mindsets, she suggested hyper-realism; something that makes you feel and immerse and forget that you’re watching something – then throw in something to finish that makes people think about their reality. She added that secular people need a reason to believe other than the reason or step that you have in mind. And in spite of it’s obvious religious text, she thought this was one example of what could work via social media sharing: Psallo Collective